PRINCETON, N.J. - The Columbia women's swimming
and diving team kicked off the start of the 2013 Ivy League Women's Swimming
and Diving Championships this morning in Princeton's DeNunzio Pool. The Lions competed in
four preliminary events, including the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle and
the one-meter dive.

Katie Meili showed up big in the 200 IM preliminary, hitting
the wall in a program, meet and Ivy League record time of 1:55.47. She broke
her own record time of 1:56.73 set in last year's NCAA Championships.
Alena Kluge also finished under the two-minute mark in the 200 IM preliminary
with a career-best time of 1:59.20. A welcomed Lions battle for the title
between two teammates looked to be the story heading into the finals.

Meili returned in the championship heat to claim the Ivy Leauge
title in the 200 IM for the second consecutive year. In impressive fashion, the
senior broke her record time set earlier in the day, clocking in at an NCAA
qualifying time of 1:55.09. Kluge posted another career-best NCAA 'B" cut time
of 1:58.73 to grab the runner-up finish.

Kluge and Meili went on to team-up with Kristina Parsons and
Salena Huang in the 400 medley relay, as Columbia grabbed its second Ivy League
title of the day. The quartet combined for a DeNunzio pool and program record NCAA 'B' cut time of 3:36.87 to
capture the win.

In the first day of action, Columbia posted solid showings
across the board to finish the day in fourth place with 313 points. The Lions
are right on the heels of third place Yale with 324 points. Harvard is
second with 412 points and Princeton leads the way through the first six events
with 473.5 points.

The foursome of Mikaila Gaffey, Meili, Christina Ray and Lily Morris combined for a
third place time in the 200 free relay to add major points for the Lions. Huang claimed a runner-up finish in the 'B' final of the 500 free with a
career-best time of 4:50.11 and Aileen Smith was not far behind in third place
with a career-best time of 4:50.18. On the boards, Kristin Hehir placed fourth
in the championship final with an NCAA qualifying point total of 274.85.

The second day will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. with preliminaries,
and then conclude with finals sessions at 6 p.m. Click the link above to view
the full schedule of events.